Sunday, May 08, 2005

Yo, Frank, You Had A Week And That's The Best You Could Do?

The detestable Frank Rich's latest column is, basically, a condemnation of Laura Bush's recent comedy routine as representative of a trend towards 'fake' news in the Bush administration (complete with the obligatory reference to Jeff Gannon). Wow, Frank, that really stinks, as usual...

How bad is this column? For proof that we live in a time of fake news, Rich goes back to the Mission Accomplished kerfuffle...oh, and he mentions Jonathan Klein's admonition to the White House Press Corp, without mentioning that it was Klein's CNN network that turned into RBN for a week or so (the Runaway Bride Network, that is). That's enough for me - I'm convinced.

Apparently, Rich feels that when the White House correspondents get together for one evening a year of fun, food, and drinks, with no less a guest than the President himself, it should be a solemn affair with much head-nodding and stern glances to the left and right. Please! As I've said before, this is nothing more than a celebrity 'roast' - watch some old Dean Martin, Frank, you'll get it. Of course, Dean was pretty clean, so you'll have to do without that profanity that you see as the height of artistry.

At least he doesn't carp on the Religious Right this time (but he can't resist one little shot at the 'faith-based demagoguery of the Family Research Council' - why faith-based, Frank? Why that choice of adjectives? Why demagoguery? If an interest group campaigns for its interests, that's demagoguery? You really need to to see a shrink about your obsessiveness). Fair warning, though, folks - Rich says '...[n]ewspaper circulation is on the skids, the big three network anchor thrones are as precarious as King Lear's, bloggers are on the rampage, and the government is embracing fake reporters and threatening to jail real ones'. Did you hear that, kids? Bloggers are on the rampage - look out, I'm coming your way!